Mahindra: Nothing but problems

[arrow]

1. Hey it's a 97 corvette, sorry about that. I do road racing, like the SCCA or lemans style, turning both left and right on a closed circuit (not street racing). I just milled the heads to for the free compression energy, but am still able to run the 93 octane to make it easier on the budget. The 101 octane at Road Atlanta was over $10 /gallon. That just wasn't necessary; I wanted more time behind the wheel being a better driver which will almost always figure a way to beat a better car.

All the diesel guys on the forum should appreciate running high compression between 18-22 to 1 for CI as compression ignition where FI for forced induction to give more Cu In. That was the beauty of running leaded gas in the old muscle cars that could do ~14:1 compression on pump gas to take advantage of maximizing the compression and therefore energy return. :thumbsup:

D It wouldn't be TractorbyNet if we didn't get off topic. I figured that was the car. I also ran SCCA but it was in 65-66. I started with a Hi Po 289 Mustang. Traded that in for a 66 Shelby GT-350. Out of my pocket with the trade was $2800. What are those things worth now? I think a real one got $350,000 at Mecum last year. At the time I was racing , Paul Newman was campaigning Datsun 240Z's. He was a very down to earth person. They ever name the "No name Straight" at Lime Rock or is it still called that? I switched to drag racing after that as since 1964, I worked on "funny car" engines before the age of blowers . Glad your tractor woes are being sorted.

 

[arrow]

Tell us about it FG. I think this is gonna be about Planes?

I would also love to hear about this. I know some newer cars have crazy high compression ( I think the new 4 cyl Mazda's may be like 14 to one) but I never heard of a car gas engine (aside from what Murph alludes to) being that high.

 

[batwing]

I had a gas engine once, with 17.5:1 CR. It not only took leaded, it took 100 octane leaded!

I had a car that liked 90 proof, oh I guess that was me!
Ron

 

[flusher]

Back in the early 80s I worked for Heliflight/Air Logistics. Numerous Sikorsky S-76 helicopters were exploding and dropping into the water with all SOBs (souls on board) lost. It was a puzzle until it happened somewhere in the Far East over land.

An engine exploded, taking out the other engine and the tail rotor drive shaft, the AC and DC Junction boxes mounted below the engine deck, and the battery. Complete power failure as the S-76 spun to it's death. Parts also came out of the engine cowling and took out all four main rotors.

The land crash revealed the engine's "pea shooter" shaft's new design without the old style oil passage in it was the cause. PHI had scrapped all the old style shafts and all their S-76s were down until new, old style parts were made. Air Logistics saved their old shafts, and were able to reinstall them and fly.

About 2 dozen deaths and the lost of a handful of fine helicopters were contributed to "better design"
Just because it is new does not make it better, just newer. So QC and FAA testing did not find the defect leading up to the loss of the helicopters. Actual use did.

Before the land crash, my coworkers and I were putting beryllium "scatter" shields around both engine's turbines and a shield over the tail rotor driveshaft. Also shields in the engine cowlings. I installed 3 Sikorskys with scatter shields before the cause was found. It really was a sad affair installing those shields and thinking about what a new and "improve" design caused. Just think how that engineer that changed the design felt.
hugs, Brandi

That's called tombstone engineering by the NTSB. Saw more than enough of that in my 32 years working as an aerospace engineer. Most notable were NASA's space shuttle disasters. But there were others. One of my nephews, a Marine Lt. Col., nearly bought it in a crash of one of those Tiltrotor aircraft.

 

[DavesTractor]

1. Hey it's a 97 corvette, sorry about that. I do road racing, like the SCCA or lemans style, turning both left and right on a closed circuit (not street racing). I just milled the heads to for the free compression energy, but am still able to run the 93 octane to make it easier on the budget. The 101 octane at Road Atlanta was over $10 /gallon. That just wasn't necessary; I wanted more time behind the wheel being a better driver which will almost always figure a way to beat a better car.

I recently sold my 2006 Z06 with 531 rwhp, mostly stock with a cam and tune. Never had the guts to take it out on the track like it deserved. I could afford to own it, but not to wreck it! The LS series engine is a remarkable engine. A 427 that you shift at 7k is a thing to behold. Lighting up a pair of 12" wide tires at nearly 100 mph is a thrill. I do think the C5 is probably the car I'd get for running on the track as a hobby. Much less $$ and still a kick to drive. Had one of those a while back. Not nearly as quick as my Z06, but how often can you find a legal place to run 200 anyway? The C5 is a bargain and a great car.

OK, back to tractors. I'm a Mahindra dealer, but I want to say that some of the stuff that happened to your 4035 frustrates us. The fuel lines are problematic, we have seen too many of them leak. We have one in the shop right now and we are switching over to normal USA made rubber hoses for the low pressure hoses. We just grind or cut off the factory crimp at the banjo fittings (easy) and put on new hose. There is a nice barbed fitting under that crimp. Mahindra has been made aware of this issue and we are not seeing it anymore, but there was a batch of these that were prone to leakage in my opinion. And the way the loader hoses were routed behind the valve was just really crowded. A guy can add a 90 degree fitting on one of the hoses and it makes things better. But the installer needs to be careful, it is tight with all of those hoses. So no, you are no troll. These things are legit and should not have happened. The dash deal is surely fixable and not a common issue.

This sort of feedback, if not done in a bashing way, is good for Mahindra. Wires need grommets, always. Hydraulic hoses need to be ran properly. Fuel hoses need to be top quality. Otherwise you take a $25k tractor and leave it $10 short of being great, and that $10 worth of hose and grommet and routing can cause a lot of frustration.

Experienced dealers catch these things (once aware of the possibility of an issue) and generally the customer never sees them. And there is no excuse for not stocking filters and such.

The 4035 is an awesome tractor. These things will get sorted out and you should be good to go.

 

[s219]

I recently sold my 2006 Z06 with 531 rwhp, mostly stock with a cam and tune. Never had the guts to take it out on the track like it deserved. I could afford to own it, but not to wreck it! The LS series engine is a remarkable engine. A 427 that you shift at 7k is a thing to behold. Lighting up a pair of 12" wide tires at nearly 100 mph is a thrill. I do think the C5 is probably the car I'd get for running on the track as a hobby. Much less $$ and still a kick to drive. Had one of those a while back. Not nearly as quick as my Z06, but how often can you find a legal place to run 200 anyway? The C5 is a bargain and a great car.

OK, back to tractors. I'm a Mahindra dealer, but I want to say that some of the stuff that happened to your 4035 frustrates us. The fuel lines are problematic, we have seen too many of them leak. We have one in the shop right now and we are switching over to normal USA made rubber hoses for the low pressure hoses. We just grind or cut off the factory crimp at the banjo fittings (easy) and put on new hose. There is a nice barbed fitting under that crimp. Mahindra has been made aware of this issue and we are not seeing it anymore, but there was a batch of these that were prone to leakage in my opinion. And the way the loader hoses were routed behind the valve was just really crowded. A guy can add a 90 degree fitting on one of the hoses and it makes things better. But the installer needs to be careful, it is tight with all of those hoses. So no, you are no troll. These things are legit and should not have happened. The dash deal is surely fixable and not a common issue.

This sort of feedback, if not done in a bashing way, is good for Mahindra. Wires need grommets, always. Hydraulic hoses need to be ran properly. Fuel hoses need to be top quality. Otherwise you take a $25k tractor and leave it $10 short of being great, and that $10 worth of hose and grommet and routing can cause a lot of frustration.

Experienced dealers catch these things (once aware of the possibility of an issue) and generally the customer never sees them. And there is no excuse for not stocking filters and such.

The 4035 is an awesome tractor. These things will get sorted out and you should be good to go.

Awesome post! And great contribution to TBN.

 

[dmize]

Thanks, I was worried my wouldn't get any replies...

I appreciate the honesty in the post and am glad it's out there to help others.

My gauge cluster had Plant 1 on it. Even though the tractor was purchased in January of 2013, I think I saw it was a mid to late 2011 manufacture date.

 

[bdally]

Wow,

Dwize, I just purchased a Max28XL Shuttle. Love it... Being that this is such a new tractor, you should go back to the dealer, calmly explain your situation and I'm sure they will resolve the issues.

 

[KiwiBro]

I'm putting a court case together with legal rep' because of potentially fatal faults with my Mahindra 5035 that the dealer simply wants to attempt to rectify despite it nearly killing me recently. Multiple faults, multiple warranty repairs to date, all on a tractor with less than 200 hrs on the clock.
I have been told Mahindra in this part of the world have not experienced some of the issues of the nature my tractor has or has had, that can kill me, but I'm struggling to have enough faith in the brand or the dealer to feel confident that is the case. I find it hard to believe I simply have had terrible luck.

Has anyone out there had their Mahindra tractor kick out of range into neutral when going down steep hills?
What about kicking out of first gear in either medium or high range when rolling down hills?
What about kicking out of second gear in both medium and high range?

Dealer has refused to take this back and refund my money. I can live with the odd fault and getting it repaired under warranty. Things like the 3ph hose being cut 1/2" too short but they fitted it and hoped it would hold. It didn't. A FEL hydraulic fitting rubbing against a hose, wearing through the hose, a burst fuel line and another collapsed fuel line, and I even gave them a shot at fixing the range issue. But I put this thing on two wheels as the lesser of many bad options when it kicked out of gear recently. How I didn't roll it is pure luck.

 

[kootch88]

Juuii